5 Motivation Lessons To Call Upon When Training Starts To Get Tough

We’ve all reached that point at some stage in our training. We can’t breathe, our muscles feel exhausted. All we want to do is collapse in a heap and crawl back into bed.

Whilst it’s important to recognise when your body is truly exhausted and needs rest, pushing past your comfort zone is important to making progress and building stamina.

So what lessons can we take on board to give us the motivation to carry on when the going gets tough?

Do things you enjoy.

Half the time, the reason you feel like throwing the towel in during training is that you’re doing an exercise you don’t particularly enjoy. This can be changed in a number of ways – by changing the exercises you’re doing, by changing your environment, or by changing your attitude.

If you’re the kind of person who enjoys being outside, but you’re always working out indoors, then shake it up – go and train in the park, or go for a hike, a runor a cycle. You will feel more motivated to keep going if you enjoy what you’re doing.

“ I think it’s easier to be motivated if you enjoy what you do! I love going to the gym and appreciate that I’m still able to train, so I make the most of each session.”

It can be easy to become demotivated when you’re not seeing immediate results, but it is important to remember that even if you can’t see it, you ARE making progress. Every time you work out, you are building strength and stamina, and getting yourself a little bit closer towards your goal.

If you are working towards a big end goal like a marathon, or a fixed weight loss target, it can be useful to set mini goals along the way. This way you can break it down into more achievable daily or weekly steps, and it becomes less daunting. For example when training for long distance races you can set a distance or time target that you want to reach, and improve on it slightly every week. The same goes for weight loss – if you tell yourself ‘I want to lose 3 stone in 5 months’, it is going to seem like a long way off at the beginning. If you tell yourself you want to lose 2 pound a week it is a much more accessible goal.

Pro Tip: Try to remind yourself of one positive thing that you achieved after each training session. E.g Today I did took my resting time down from 45 seconds to 30 seconds. Sometimes you will find it easier than others, but get into the habit of appreciating small improvements. You will realise that you are making progress even though sometimes it may not feel like it.

Positive self -talk

Self talk may not seem the most natural thing for a lot of us, BUT it can be very useful to remind yourself why you’re standing there at the gym at 7 in the morning when you’re body is screaming at you to go back to bed.

It can be something as simple as - “Remember how good you’re going to feel afterwards”. Sometimes long term intentions such as “Think of how much better you’re going to look” can be demotivating if you’re not seeing immediate results, something that is attainable within the same day is much easier to grasp.

Change it up!

Variety is the spice of life, and that is no more true than when you’re working out. Doing the same routine every day – whether it is in your working life, or in the gym, can become monotonous. So if you’re feeling uninspired – mix it up a bit!

Pro Tip: Take it outside, go to some classes or try some activities you haven’t tried before, go for a walk, go for a cycle - awaken your inner child, and remind yourself that getting your body moving should be fun! Taking yourself out of your everyday environment can be enough to help you feel motivated again.

Treat yourself!

When we’ve done something well, we want to be rewarded for it. When we get to adulthood, there’s nobody there to tell us we did a good job, and so we often forget to reward ourselves. Giving yourself a pat on the back by incentivising your workout with a little treat for yourself can be a great way to keep you motivated.

Pro Tip: Try and avoid unhealthy incentives like a donut or a bottle of wine. Make it something that you enjoy but you don’t always let yourself do, like a trip to the cinema, or one day a week of absolute relaxation and rest.